Outback Adventure - Day 8

Mataranka - Katherine - Edith Falls - Mary River Roadhouse - Kakadu

Today's route. About 300km.

Good Friday: We need to be in Katherine (100 km's away) by 9:00 for the kind man at Hobbit Auto Electrics to have a look at the rooftop tent on his day off. A closer inspection reveals that the wood of the base is mostly rotted away and several of the retaining screws are missing or loose. In short, it is quite likely that one of us will fall right through the base the next time we get in. Mr Hobbit Auto Electrical kindly did what he could to make it safe.

In the tourist info centre we book our places for the Yellow River Billabong Dawn Cruise tomorrow. Cast off is at 6:25 in the AM!

On our way to Kakadu we stop at Edith Falls for a quick dip in this massive, waterfall fed rock pool. Stunning place. Our only look at the Katherine River Gorge National Park.

Palms and Pandanus everywhere around Edith Falls.

We head on and reach Mary River Roadhouse for a late lunch with complimentary coffee for the driver. It is stupid warm and very humid. At least there are no flies. We find a table in the shade where we make a lunch of salad leaves, salami, bread, mayo, olives, tomatoes and cucumber.

This guy, a Blue Faced Honeyeater, sang for us while we were having lunch.

At 3.00 we are on the road again and pass into Kakadu park. Our cruise is based at Cooimba, which is our first stop. This is a commercial resort. We have look around, but decide against staying there. Too commercial and too loud.

We find an excellent spot 2km further on. Sub-tropical forest with palm trees and ferns. Good facilities within walking distance. We have neighbours, but they are only just visible through the forest. We set up camp and drink beers, very happy with ourselves.

A termite mound. We thought this one was quite big, at 2.5m. A few days later we saw several that were 4.5-5m high. It is thought that, gram for gram, there are more termites under Australia than all the surface animals combined.

A Galah. They are everywere.

At sundown we head for the showers and see an Azure Kookaburra. Quite a 'Wow!' moment. As big as a small chicken and completely unbothered by us. Back at the site we start a fire with some wood stacked next to the barbecue.

At this stage things start going pear shaped. Our idyllic campsite, (which in retrospect was surrounded by sheets of water) seems to be equally attractive to mosquitoes. There are fucking millions of them. The Aerogard we have sprayed on seems to have no effect whatsoever and the mosquito coils we burn acts like navigation beacons for them. Even though it is dark, it is still bloody warm. We are sweating just from sitting still. While we are being sucked dry, I realise that the wood is gum-wood: absolutely useless as far as making coals are concerned. At this stage I have not yet realised how the Aussies do their barbecue's and trying to do it SA style with Aussie wood and facilities is an exercise in frustration. I try to get some coals going, but they are just as crap as the previous time. Back to the gas stove and frying pan. We are very hungry and being eaten alive, so the potatoes that were supposed to go onto the coals stay raw and we eat a t-bone steak each for dinner.

Our ground tent is a piece of gauze, to keep the mosquitoes out. We did not bother to put the flysheets out. With great relief and a certain amount of disgust we get into the tent to sleep.

Sleep proves elusive, since it is so hot and humid that I just lie on my back in a pool of sweat. There is not a breeze to cool us down. The full moon on our faces just adds to the frustration. After a while I am awakened by dingos howling a few metres from me. For defence, between the two of us, we have one sat of PJ's and an alarm clock. I lie awake, and quite still, for a long time listening to them sniffing and rummaging through our camp and wondering whether they will take an interest in us humans.

After a seeming eternity, sleep takes me. Into Day 9...

Outback Adventure - Day 7

Devil's Marbles - Tennant Creek - Renner Springs - Daly Waters - Mataranka

Today's route: All the way up into the tropical Top End.

After a long an painful search for the best way to sleep in the passenger seat of a Land Cruiser, I can confirm that that position does not exist. It is merely a painful exercise in futility.

I lie and watch black turn to grey and finally the pink and orange of first light. I wake Eli up. She is not exactly a barrel of laughs either. Apparently, the back seat offers no sleeping comforts either.

We make coffee, brush teeth and head off at 7:15. We have a long day of driving ahead and neither of us have had any sleep of note.

Sunrise over the marbles.

More sunrise

First light hitting an outcrop.

After about 5km we hear a flappy kind of rattle coming from the top of the car. We pull over to discover a fully opened roof tent. The canvas cover have become loose and the wind has blown the tent open. After some swearing, the tent is well secured and we set off again.

A minute later the same thing happens again. A car comes from ahead and flashes his lights at us. Yes, dipshit, I am aware of the tent on my roof. Several choice swearwords are employed. Various cars, tents, rental agencies, natural phenomena and countries are covered.

We realise that the rain has weakened the velcro bonds securing the canvas covering. Added to this is the fact that only 2 of the 8 tie-down straps are actually functional. Just as well Eli sent me back to the camping shop in Alice to buy a bungee cord. This is employed to tie the tent down proper.

40 Minutes into our trip and we have covered 5 km.We both had a night very short on sleep and now we discover mechanical problems with our kit too. From a pretty low base my mood is deteriorating yet further.

We stop at Tennant Creek for diesel. 80 litres for 490km!

161km further north we stop at Renner Springs for coffee and breakfast. It is 9:30 in the morning and already stupid hot. There seems to be less flies, though. At the petrol station I spot a road train with 4 trailers. 82 Wheels on that monster!

The first thing you see as you approach Renner Springs.

The hotel proper. Quite nice, actually.

Eli manages some sleep on the way here, so she takes the next shift to Daly Waters. I try to sleep, but no luck. I use the time to get the diary up to date.

The road north.

Daly Waters is 250km to the north. Things become greener, almost imperceptibly. We stop at Daly Waters for lunch and a beer. It is the oldest pub in the Northern Territory, with a liquor licence valid since the 1880's. It a a lovely, charming pub set in a magnificent, desert-isolation, setting. I could stay here for a day or two. We have our beers in the shaded courtyard and our salad lunch in the shade of a tree. Shade is a godsend. It is midday and the tropical humity has kicked in.

Daly Waters Pub.

Eli takes the next driving shift as well as we head further north. About 300km to go. I take over after a hundred or so. During the changeover I manage to let a few flies into the cabin. I consider giving them each a name, in order to be able to curse them each personally, rather than as a species.

Driving is hard going. I have trouble concentrating, but Eli is in even a worse state and she has done the most of the driving already. I tore a fingernail two days earlier and it has become infected, and throbbing, no doubt helped on by stress, poor sleep and no showers for 36 hours.

At this stage it becomes clear that we are not in the Red Centre any more. The world is greener, with more rolling hills and new types of plants. The grass is high and green, the trees are taller, greener and healthier.

You can't leave Australia without a photo like this. So here it is.

This is what they refer to. Shy little cuties.

After a seeming eternity we arrive in Mataranka. It is 5pm, fucking hot and fucking humid. We need food, water, beer and wine, since tomorrow is Good Friday and nothing will be open. Without beer, I might need to call it Not So Good Friday. This is a roughneck town. I am the smallest guy in the supermarket. Even the checkout chicks will probably be able to floor me if I look at them askew. They are friendly enough, though. No food worth eating to be had here, but I do manage to get a slab of Tooheys New.

We have planned to go to Katherine, another 120km or so, but we decide that this is far enough. There is a hot spring about 10km further on, at Mataranka Homestead, which styles itself as a 'resort'. We are both gatvol, scratchy, tired, dirty, sticky and warm. All of our clothes are dirty and will need a wash before the 4 days that we intend to spend in Kakadu.

We rent a motel room at Mataranka Homestead for the night. Eli, the angel that she is, sends me off to go find a beer and some shade, while she puts the washing in. Two beers later Eli arrives and we wander through the rainforest to the hot spring. The water flows into a crystal clear rockpool where we float about, look at at the sky through the palm canopy, listen to the calls of cockatoos and generally feel our muscles relax and our cares wash away. We reluctantly get out when it gets dark.

We head to the fan-cooled bar where we drink G&T's and generally chill out. Dinner is pan fried barramundi and chips, eaten in the bar. Very good indeed.

We go back to our room, set the air-con to 'Arctic' and take looong showers. Bliss!

Read on to Day 8...